August 2022 Hereford World
The voice of the American Hereford Association | August 2022
Fed Up!
Feeders want to change how cattle are valued in the marketplace. by Wes Ishmael
C
attle feeders are frustrated with the dated, oversized role that hide color plays in feeder calf value. That message is crystal clear as you leaf through results of a recent survey conducted by the Red Angus Association of America (RAAA). Visit with Tom Brink, RAAA chief executive officer, who talked with respondents representing 35-40% of the nation’s aggregate cattle feeding capacity and the level of frustration was downright palpable. Feedlots ranged in size from 1,000 head to more than 100,000. The average feedlot size was 28,130 head. He received the same response from buyers, backgrounders, auction managers and industry experts. “Perhaps the biggest surprise was how strong the feelings are out in the country that the feeder cattle market needs to change,” Brink says. “Even though the current emphasis on hide color is decades old, more than 90% of respondents want a future that is different from the past. They have little affinity for a future that is a mere extension of the present; they made a lot of comments along those lines.” Keep in mind, Brink spent much of his career in the cattle feeding business before taking the RAAA reins.
“Certainly, black hide color, when it was a fairly reliable indicator of breed composition, played a key role in the industry’s journey to increased carcass quality and development of valuebased beef programs,” says Jack Ward, American Hereford Association (AHA) executive vice president. “As reliability of that phenotypic indicator has dimmed over time, as cattle of all colors can knock it out of the park or flop in terms of feedlot and carcass performance, it’s easy to understand the frustration illustrated by the survey. Our members and their commercial customers have voiced the same frustration for a number of years.” As one survey respondent — a Kansas feedlot manager noted: "Black cattle are not even black Angus anymore." In other words, Brink explains, “There cannot be an undistracted focus on improving traits of real value when hide color plays an influential role in price discovery. Important market signals become mixed with noise and static about color. The result is a partially compromised signal that slows the industry’s genetic progress and may reduce advances in other value-creating characteristics as well.” continued on page 16...
